3.4 – Dalek Empire III – The Demons

Adrift in Dalek space, the Graxis Wardens are hopelessly outnumbered. It looks like the Dalek Supreme will defeat them, but there may be help from an unexpected quarter.

1 Comment

Styre
on May 7, 2016 at 8:49 PM

DALEK EMPIRE III

CHAPTER FOUR: THE DEMONS

Oh, dear. I was wondering if Briggs would be able to sustain the tension through six parts, but if “The Demons” is any indication, the answer is a firm, disappointing “no.” The play does tie itself together with Dalek War, providing an interesting explanation of just what the alt-universe Daleks were doing at the medical research station, but the prolonged flashback sequences add little to the drama. Galanar learning of his origins is one thing, but the interminable sequence of Amur trying to break her Dalek conditioning is both boring and unfulfilling — and the action sequence in which the two of them attempt to escape is genre-standard and uninteresting. Briggs apparently has nothing for the Graxis Wardens to do: they’re barely in the play except for a clichéd scene in which they pose as a different ship in an attempt to fool Dalek patrols. Saxton’s moral dilemma seems forced and out of character, especially with little information about the amount of time that has passed since their escape. The revelations about the new Dalek Supreme — and about how the Daleks survived Kalendorf and Suz’s final, catastrophic assault — are quite interesting, and potentially explain this new Dalek Supreme’s apparent insanity. Unfortunately, Sarah Mowat goes completely over the top, reducing this Dalek Supreme to an unconvincing object of mockery that provoked nothing but laughter from me. While “The Demons” is up to Briggs’ high technical standards, and the acting, Mowat excepted, is stellar, it comes across as almost totally superfluous. It’s not bad, just unnecessary, and begs the question of why a six-part series was produced instead of the usual four.